I was one of 165 Democrats to vote yes for the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which ultimately passed the House earlier this month in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 314-117 vote. Raising the debt ceiling saved the U.S. economy from potential catastrophe. Democrats faced a Hobson’s choice or the illusion that multiple choices exist when, in reality, there was only one.
The alternatives that opponents of the bill claimed existed were false choices.
The idea that Democrats — who are now in a slim minority in the House — could raise the debt ceiling with no strings attached flew in the face of the reality House Republicans have created. My Democratic colleagues and I were in full support of a so-called “clean” bill. Every Democrat signed a petition to try to force a vote on this bill, but not a single Republican joined the effort.
Over and over, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the GOP made clear they would never entertain a clean bill. Instead, they would rather manufacture a crisis to hold our economy hostage to extract concessions for their extremist agenda.
Thanks to President Joe Biden’s calm leadership and deft negotiating team, the White House successfully beat back the most radical proposals from right-wing members of Congress and protected the administration’s signature accomplishments.
And despite McCarthy publicly claiming, “There’s not one thing in the bill for Democrats,” the facts tell a different story. Don’t take my word for it — more Democrats than Republicans ultimately voted in favor of the bill McCarthy negotiated and brought to the floor.
And factions of Republicans are still stewing in the aftermath. Earlier this month, conservative Republicans ground the House floor to an unexpected halt in retaliation for what they have determined was a bad deal cut by their speaker. A deal they had hoped would do more to cut food assistance for the most vulnerable, hatefully target the LGBTQ+ community, eliminate services for thousands of veterans, force duplicative work requirements on Medicaid recipients and cancel Biden’s student debt relief plan.
None of these aims were achieved, and yet some Democrats want to argue this deal wasn’t worth cutting. Make no mistake — this was not perfect. Yet, it was undeniably far better than the alternative of a default and ultimately was the only real and plausible choice to save our economy from the brink.
The suggestion that Biden could invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval implied an easy exit ramp existed — but it didn’t.
Invoking an untested legal theory would have taken weeks or months to sort through, potentially culminating with a decision from an unpredictable, conservative Supreme Court — a last desperate choice rife with immense uncertainty that would provide no guarantees. That was not a risk Biden was willing to take.
The worst possible scenario of all would have been to allow the U.S. to default for the first time in history. Consider the consequences: 8 million jobs lost, devastated retirement savings and 401(k)s, increased car payments and credit card bills and mortgages soaring to record highs. The full faith and credit of the United States downgraded. As President Ronald Reagan said, “The full consequence of a default — or even the serious prospect of default — by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate.”
Disappointingly, not a single Illinois Republican heeded Reagan’s warnings. They voted against the bill — and in favor of a default.
There are lessons for the American people from this recent spectacle: Elections have consequences. With the majority, House Democrats would have passed a clean debt ceiling bill months ago. I know this because we’ve done so dozens of times before, including three times under President Donald Trump and 18 times under Reagan.
Any true solution for our nation’s debt and deficit issues must be bold, balanced and bipartisan.
America is the only country that continually votes to raise its debt ceiling. This exercise is unnecessary at best and, as we just experienced, dangerous at worst. As we look forward, there is clear agreement across the ideological spectrum: Congress must vote to do away with our nation’s debt limit.
When Democrats take back the House in November 2024, we must. And we will.
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(U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley represents Illinois’ 5th Congressional District)
